en if not in so high a degree as in the case of the Lady of
Tula.

To return to the women of the true Aztecs. When the young girl had
emerged from the conventual school she took her place in society as one
of its rightful factors. She participated on equal terms with the men in
all social functions, eating with them at the banquet and taking part in
all the festivities which were so congenial to the somewhat superficial
nature of that people. It is true that at the banquets she sat apart
from the men, as did also the married women; but this was simply a
custom, not a result of inferior status. These banquets were carried on
in a style not inferior to the feasts of the old Romans; the tables were
covered with flowers, and bowls of water and cotton napkins were
furnished to each guest, that they might perform before eating the
ablutions which were as formal with the Aztecs as with the Mussulmans.
There were golden chafing dishes and cups and platters, as well as table
ornaments of the precious metal, which was very common among the
Mexicans. The feasts of the wealthy, if we may credit the accounts of
early writers, were sumptuously provided with delicacies, such as
venison, peccaries, rabbits, "tuzas,"--a species of mole,--fish of many
names, turtles, iguanas, turkeys, quails, and numerous other kinds of
birds. Vegetables and fruits of several varieties completed the dishes.
The variety and quality of food here indicated suggest an epicurean
supply rather than the frugal dietary to which the Aztecs are reputed to
have been accustomed. Before eating it was _de rigueur_ to smoke, the
tobacco being in the form of cigars or used in pipes, the former being
held in dainty holders of tortoise shell or silver; but we are not
informed whether or not the women participated in this part of the
feast. We do, however, know that after the banquet was concluded the
elder women as well as the men drank pulque, the national beverage,
often to a state of intoxication; but the young of both sexes were
rigorously excluded from this portion of the entertainment. The youths
and maidens danced while their elders drank--a custom which has not
wholly ceased in our own civilization; and we can find in the whole
proceeding on these festal occasions more likeness to modern
entertainments than is found even by the old Spanish writer who tells us
that, after the distribution of gifts with which the entertainment came
to a close, the guests dispersed,